Bill Bibo Jr

the BIO (the medicated long winded version)

I was born in Tacoma, WA, the city that gave us crooner Bing Crosby and actress Dyan Cannon. Serial killer Ted Bundy spent his formative years in Tacoma. I spent less than a year there when my father was discharged from Fort Lewis. He chose to move my mother and me to his home town, Peoria, IL, the city of singer Dan Fogelberg and comedian Richard Pryor. Mass murderer Richard Speck was tried and convicted in Peoria.

Coincidence? I certainly hope so.

When we married my wife and I moved to Madison, WI, the city where Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Heiden and comedian Chris Farley were born. The year we moved there the Student Council of the University of Wisconsin filled Bascom Hill with thousands of pink flamingoes. That winter they erected a full scale model of the Statue of Liberty on the ice of Lake Mendota, but only from the nose up. We had found our home.

Architecture pays the bills. I am fortunate, all my buildings are still standing and I have developed some excellent friendships along the way. What continues to bother me is that every day the people I work with are getting younger and younger while I am not. I don’t remember the day I stopped being Bill and became Mr. Bibo. Now I don’t even remember half of their names. Could you repeat the question?

I have decided not to age gracefully. I intend to go kicking and screaming the entire way. There is a classic quote from “Doctor Who” that sums it all up for me. It was spoken by Tom Baker in the episode called “Robot”.

“There's no point in being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes.”

Make that all the time.

Our children are both grown and living their own lives. I have finally become less of an embarrassment to them and am now considered slightly cool. I love them dearly and will do anything for them, but it is wonderful to finally have the time I can give to my own pursuits without it being too late at night mostly because I can’t stay awake that long.

Writing is my refuge and salvation. It allows me to forget the work-a-day life and escape into worlds of my own creation. It makes me smile, it makes me happy, and it makes my wife wonder about me.

Thanks for reading me.